Guilt
|} Guilt, or feelings of guilt, occurs only with an active conscience. Depending on how our conscience is aligned, guilt will move us either in the right direction or the wrong direction.How Can You Maintain a Good Conscience?, gl, ch.2 ---- :Words from the apostle Peter “Maintain a good conscience, so that in whatever way you are spoken against, those who speak against you may be put to shame because of your good conduct as followers of Christ.”—1 Peter 3:16 :Words from the apostle James “Every good gift and every perfect present is from above, coming down from the Father of the celestial lights, who does not vary or change like the shifting shadows.”—James 1:17 ---- ;The conscience In the Greek scriptures, the word for “conscience” syneidēsis '' ( συνείδησις ) literally means “co-knowledge, or knowledge with oneself.” We possess a God-given capacity to know ourselves. We can, in a sense, stand back and look at ourselves and make moral judgments. Acting as an internal witness bearer, or judge, our conscience can examine our actions, our attitudes, and our choices. It may guide us toward a good decision or warn us against a bad one. Afterward, it may comfort us for choosing well or punish us with sharp pangs for choosing poorly. Adam and Eve showed that they had a conscience as evident by the shame they experienced following their sin (Genesis 3:7, 8). ;Does Jehovah forgive? :''The parable of the prodigal son 11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ — Luke 15:11-23 NIV |} References Category:Topics